Bedtime Story (26/10/2016)

Well, I couldn't let Halloween go by without a story to celebrate, could I?!  This story is, as always, also available to listen to as a podcast!

Scaredy Cat!

Christopher the house cat stretched out in front of the fireplace.  The sun was setting outside and the sky was turning dark.  Christopher yawned and let out a contented purr as the crackling fire warmed his fur.  He was just about to drift off to sleep, when a loud noise made his ears prick up.  Heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs.  Christopher wrinkled his nose.  Jessie and Isobel, the two little girls who lived in the house, were forever running around and making noise.  As he heard the footsteps getting closer to the lounge door, he turned to see them.

But, to Christopher's horror, when the door opened, a green witch with a pointy hat was standing there.  Beside her, was a little white ghost!  Christopher let out a frightened yowl and rushed past them, out into the kitchen.  Behind him, he could hear the witch and the ghost giggling.  They sounded a lot like Jessie and Isobel, but Christopher wasn't going to fall for their tricks!  He darted through the cat flap and out into the garden.  

Christopher was just getting settled beneath his favourite chrysanthemum bush, when, to his horror, he heard the giggling witch and her ghost friend coming outside.  As they approached, Christopher hissed at them and jumped over the fence into the front garden.  There, he found a nice cosy patch of grass not far from the front door, where he promptly curled up into a ball, wondering what on Earth had happened to the nice family he usually lived with.

He hadn't been there very long, when he heard chattering voices coming down the road.  The voices soon reached the top of the garden path, then, to Christopher's dismay, the garden gate opened and a whole group of terrible creatures began walking towards the house!  

There was a vampire, a monster and even a walking, talking pumpkin!  Christopher heard them ring the doorbell and shout "TRICK OR TREAT!" but he didn't dare to stick around to find out what was going to happen next.  He shot out of the garden and bounded away.

Christopher didn't stop running until he reached a nice, busy part of town.  He figured it would be safer there, with lots of bright streetlights to scare away the ghosts and goblins.  The sky had turned completely dark by now, so Christopher slunk into an alleyway beside a shop that smelt of food.  There, he curled up in a wooden crate and tried to go to sleep.

It seemed like he'd only just closed his eyes when he heard someone say "One cod and chips and one fishcake and chips, please!"  Christopher's eyes lit up and he crept out of the alleyway, realising why the shop smelt so nice!  But, when he glanced at the customers inside, he was stunned to see that they didn't look like ordinary people.  There was a pirate, a skeleton, a devil and another witch!  Christopher yowled and sprang away.

He decided he had to return home and somehow warn his family about all the scary creatures he'd seen.  Christopher didn't stop running until he reached the back door and lurched through the cat flap once more.

"Christopher!"  Isobel came rushing over, with her arms outstretched.  There was a white sheet with two eye-holes lying on the floor behind her.  "You silly cat," she chuckled, scooping Christopher up in her arms.  "You had us worried; why did you run away?"

Suddenly, Christopher spotted the witch coming into the room again and he readied himself to run.  But, as the witch removed her hat, he recognised the pink hairband that Jessie always wore.  And, as she stroked Christopher's fur, he noticed that the witch's green skin was rubbing off in places.

"They're just costumes," Jessie told him.  "Mum and Dad are taking us to a Halloween party!"

Sure enough, Jessie and Isobel's parents strode into the room, both dressed as zombies.  Christopher shot out of Isobel's arms and hurried back into the lounge.  He knew the outfits were just costumes now, but that didn't mean he had to like them.

Before long, Christopher heard the front door open and close and he listened to the family's excited chatter getting fainter as they disappeared down the garden path.  The fire in the lounge had been put out, but Christopher didn't mind.  He lay on the rug in front of the fireplace and stretched out.  There, he happily drifted off to sleep at last.  Without a witch or a ghost in sight.

THE END